State-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) says operations remain normal after Trump vetoes sanctioned ships; Maduro government classifies measure as ‘grotesque threat’
The company stated, this Wednesday (17), that its oil exports continue “normally” after the announcement by the American president, of a blockade on all “sanctioned oil tankers” entering or leaving the country. The government of the country that has the largest proven oil reserves in the world called the declaration “irrational” and a “grotesque threat”. The Venezuelan Armed Force also condemned the announcement.
They do not recognize Maduro’s reelections in 2018 and 2024. The American justice system accuses the Venezuelan president of “narcoterrorism” and has increased the reward for information resulting in his capture to US$50 million.
Trump stated that the blockade will be maintained until Venezuela returns the oil that, in his opinion, it stole from the United States. American forces “will not let anyone in who shouldn’t be passing through,” the president declared to journalists on Wednesday.
The state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) reported, however, “that oil and derivatives export operations are developing normally”. “Oil tankers linked to PDVSA operations continue to sail with complete safety, technical support and operational guarantees,” the company said in a statement. “No aggression was able to affect operational capacity”, adds the note.
Maduro spoke by telephone with the secretary general of , . “I fully explained what the escalation of aggressions and threats has been like. It is simply a pretense of war and colonialism,” he said in a speech broadcast on radio and television.
One of the UN secretary-general’s spokespersons said he “is focused on avoiding further escalation” between the two countries and called for “moderation and immediate de-escalation of the situation.”
The Mexican president, , also called on the UN to assume its role and “avoid any bloodshed” in Venezuela.
Sanctions
Washington supports the campaign of the opposition, which denounces fraud in the 2024 elections, in which Maduro was re-elected for a third term.
Corina Machado arrived in Oslo on December 11, one day after the Nobel Prize ceremony, received by her daughter on her behalf. The opposition leader spent more than a year in hiding in Venezuela. But this Wednesday, she left Oslo, according to a close associate who did not disclose her new destination.
Trump imposed an embargo on Venezuelan oil in 2019, during his first term, as part of a series of sanctions that unsuccessfully sought Maduro’s ouster.
Iran, an ally of the Venezuelan president with , and Cuba, denounced this Wednesday the “armed robbery at sea” of an oil tanker, seized by the American military on December 10.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also expressed Beijing’s rejection of “all forms of harassment” against Venezuela, in a telephone conversation with his Venezuelan counterpart, Yvan Gil.
The majority of Venezuelan oil exports are destined for China. Venezuela produces 1 million barrels per day (bd) and expects to reach 1.2 million by the end of the year.
Oil prices rose this Wednesday following Trump’s announcement.
‘They don’t intimidate us’
In turn, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino stated that Venezuela will not fall for “provocations”. “We say to the American government and its president that their rude and arrogant threats do not intimidate us,” he said, accompanied by the high military command.
In August, Trump ordered a military mobilization in the Caribbean and the Pacific under the argument of combating drug trafficking, although Maduro insists that the objective is to force a “regime change” to appropriate Venezuelan wealth.
The United States announced on Wednesday a new attack against an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Pacific that left four people dead. Since the start of the anti-drug campaign in September, the Pentagon has carried out more than 25 attacks that have left at least 99 people dead.
Last week, the American military seized a tanker targeted by US Treasury Department sanctions, which had sailed from Venezuela loaded with oil.
The United States kept the vessel and the cargo, estimated at between 1 and 2 million barrels of oil. The Maduro government called the action a “brazen robbery” and accused Trinidad and Tobago of helping with the seizure.
A blockade of Venezuelan oil “would cut a crucial lifeline for the economy,” said consultancy Capital Economics. “The impact in the medium term will largely depend on how tensions with the United States evolve and what the objectives of the American government in Venezuela are.”
*With information from AFP
Published by Nícolas Robert
